Mullet Over

BY JAMES K. WHITE | APRIL 6, 2011

Why all the fuss?

There is a critical shortage of veterinarians in many rural areas. Exacerbating the situation is the fact that education-related debts average more than $100,000 for recent vet graduates. The debts often make the higher salaries in urban areas seem extremely attractive.

An American tire company (Goodyear) has designed new tires to replace the wire-mesh tires/wheels used on Mars and Moon vehicles. The airless tires, made up of hundreds of independent steel springs, are so durable and effective that fire departments, mill owners and rough-terrain mine operators are hoping to use the new products as reliable replacements for conventional synthetic rubber tires.

A fungus known as the French Perigord truffle is a much sought-after and expensive food. Having been prized for centuries, this truffle grows about 6 to 8 inches underground and is located by using odor-detecting pigs, dogs and in at least one case, bears to sniff out the delicacy. Why all the fuss? The black truffle sells for more than $300 per pound and the rarer white truffle sells for approximately $1,000 per pound. That is why.

Many a Western-movie fan has witnessed references to someone being “lynched.” The term originates with a “Colonel” Charles Lynch active during the American Revolution era. He and a band of vigilantes found it fast and effective to hang suspected criminals and/or British sympathizers without the bother of gathering evidence or forming a jury and getting lawyers involved. Subsequently, anyone hanged without the “formality” of a trial was commonly said to be “lynched.”

Andrew Bonar Law is the only person born outside the United Kingdom to serve as Prime Minister of Great Britain. Bonar was a Canadian and was P.M. for 211 days (Oct. 1922-May 1923). I do think I would be hesitant to name any off-spring “Bonar.”

Some folks have been amazed at how advanced the ancient Egyptians were in certain facets. For instance, records indicate they had recipes for at least six distinct types of beer.

The reader might want to add Lake Balkhash (Russia) to his/her list of weird bodies of water. The lake is approximately 360 miles long with the western end being fresh and supporting fresh-water fish. The eastern end is salty and is inhabited by some salt-water fish.

On a dry tongue, sugar has no taste.

Paleontologists generally agree at least ninety-nine percent of all life forms that have ever existed on earth are now extinct. Well, I do hope you remain in that special one percent and have a great week.

James White is a retired mathematics teacher who enjoys sharing fascinating trivia. He can be reached at jkwhite46@gmail.com.

Where did we come from and more

A woman walked into the kitchen to find her
husband stalking around with a fly swatter.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Hunting Flies," he responded.
"Oh! Killing any?" she asked.
"Yep, 3 males, 2 females," he replied.
Intrigued, she asked, "How can you tell them apart?"
He responded, "Three were on a beer can, two were on the phone."

Where did we come from?
A little girl asked her mom, "How did the human race appear?"
The mother answered, "God made Adam and Eve and they had children, and so was all mankind made."
Two days later the girl asked her father the same question.
The father answered, "Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved."
The confused girl returned to her mother and said, "Mom, how is it possible you told me the human race was created by God, and Dad said they developed from monkeys?"
The mother answered, "Well, Dear, it's very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his."

Longest password
During a recent password audit, it was found a blonde was using the following password: "MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento."
When asked why she had such a long password, she said she was told that it had to be at least eight characters long and include at least one capital.

Little girl on a plane
A Congressman was seated next to a 10 year old girl on an airplane so he turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."
The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"
"Oh, I don't know," said the congressman. "How about global warming, universal health care, or stimulus packages?" as he smiled smugly.
"Okay," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff – grass. Yet a deer excrete little pellets, while cows turn out flat patties and horses produce clumps. Why do you suppose that is?"
The legislator, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea."
To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss global warming, universal health care, or the economy, when you don't know shit?"
And then she went back to reading her book.